1999 Pontiac Grand Am Electrical System

TONY DICKENSON

MEMBER
1999 PONTIAC GRAND AM
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
120,000 MILES

My son's 99 Grand Am has been a great car up until recently. I took it to a mechanic and he siad he thought it was the ecm. He swapped it out and the problem still remains. This is the problem; when you turn the ignition on the lights start flashing randomly and when you try to start the car it just clicks, like the solenoid is trying to engage and doesn't have enough voltage to crank. The battery is good ( no dead or weak cells ) I'm wondering if this is a grounding problem and if this I s a common symptom with a bad or marginal grround. Thank you for your time. God bless.

Tony

1 Reply

JDL

MECHANIC
16,098 POSTS

You may need to do a voltage drop test at the starter solenoid connections? As far as the flashing lites that may have to do with your security system. I didn't see any connection to your starter circuit? With everything off, using digital multimeter across battery posts, what is the reading, 12.6 volts is the generic spec for a full charge. Leave the leads on the battery posts, have helper turn key to crank, what is the reading, then. It should drop some but not much below 10 volts. If the reading doesn't drop at all, you have an open circuit, somewhere. All leads to and from the battery are clean and tight on both ends?

Any testing make sure the tranny is in park or neutral and the e-brake is set.